Tag Archives: histopathology

Medical Imaging News – Stainless staining provides a new tool for clinicians and researchers

Science News from World Scientific

Histopathology is a cornerstone of modern biomedical research. Yet, the practice of histopathology has evolved just a few times — non-specific stains in the late 19th century, immunohistochemical staining in the mid-to-late 20th century and digital imaging/computerized analysis at the turn of the 20th century. In all cases, prepared biopsy samples are stained and examined under a light microscope. This study reports a new approach to histology in which a team of engineers, pathologists and surgeon report the development of label-free chemical imaging to provide the same information as molecular stains. Led by Rohit Bhargava at the University of Illinois, the study is based on using infrared spectroscopic imaging for microscopy.

Instead of using stains, the spectra measure the chemical constitution of cells and tissues directly. By using computational techniques, the researchers were able to relate spectral properties to known staining patterns of tissue. The outcome is that that molecular stains can be reproduced without staining the tissue but by using the intrinsic molecular contrast of the tissue and computation. Thus, any sample can be stained for desired stains without material cost, time or effort while leaving precious tissue pristine for downstream analyses. Another use of the approach can be in the analysis of small amounts of samples, for example from a thin needle biopsy. In cases where materials are limited or there may be a need to closely correlate multiple expressed molecules, it may not be possible to obtain multiple samples from the same biopsy for multiple stains. The method developed in this study could be a solution, allowing the user to simply “dial-in” a required stain. The study is timely as it builds on the emergence of chemical imaging and maturation of computation from the sciences/engineering side and the drive to greater molecular content from the biomedical/clinical side.

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